Power-transmission mechanism and lubricating means therefor



Feb. 19, 1924. 1,484,384

w. E. BOCK POWER TRANSMISSION MECHANISM AND LUBRICATING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Oct. 14, 1920 INVENTEIR Patented Feb. 19, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM EMIL ROCK, OF EAGLE POINT COLONY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO BER'I'HA M. BOOK, OF TOLEDO, OHIO.

POWER-TRANSMISSION MECHANISM AND LUBRICATING MEANS THEREFOR.

Application filed October 14, 1920. Serial No. 416,783.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM EMIL BUCK, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Eagle Point Colony, in the county of Wood and State of Ohio, have made an Invention Appertaining to Power- Transmission Mechanism and Lubricating Means Therefor; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention in its present embodiment relates to washing machines of the reciprocatory pounder type and particularly to the pounder actuating mechanism therefor and the system of oiling employed forsuch mechanism.

In power transmission mechanisms used in connection with washing machines and in other connections where the splash system of oilin is employed, or is appropriate for use, an in which the drive shaft for the mechanism extends into the transmission case through a bearing in its wall, difliculty is encountered in maintaining the parts properly lubricated and at the same time preventing an escape or leakage of oil from the case through the shaft bearhe primary object of my invention is the provision of an improved method of lubricatin the transmission parts and particularly t e worm and worm-wheel thereof, if ofsuch type, and at the same time having the oil level adjacent to the shaft bearing in the wall disposed below said bear-" base frame which supports at its top a cylindrical tub or clothes container 2 of a clothes washing machine. A cylinder 3 rises centrally within the tub from without its bottom and has its lower end in full open communication with the interior of the crank chamber. A hollow piston or plunger 4 is mounted for reciprocatory movements in the cylinder 3 and has a rod 5 projecting upward therefrom through a stuffing box in the cylinder top and into the tub. This rod carries a cross-arm 6 at its upper end within the tub and from each end thereof depends a vertically yieldable pounder head 7, in the present instance of cup-form. The rod 5 has a hub or disclike enlargement 8 at its lower end which is secured within the head against longitudinal movements relative thereto but is permitted to freely rotate therein so that the position of the pounders within the tub may be chan ed revolubly of the rod axis. A worm-w eel 9 is mounted in the case 1 on a shaft 10 journaled in the case wall and has a crank 11 connected by a pitman or connecting rod 12 with the lower end of the piston 4, whereby reciprocatory movements are imparted to the iston from a revolution of the crank. T e connecting rod projects at its upper end above its piston pivot 13 into the hollow of the piston and has a tooth 1 for engagement with a set of teeth on a ratchet wheel 15 carried by the lower end of the rod 5. It is thus evident that at each revolution of the crank 11 the connecting rod 12 is actuated to impart a slight rotary movement to the rod 5 and pounders to change the horizontal position of the latter in the tub.

The worm-wheel 9 is driven by a sub acent worm 16, the shaft 17 of which is journaled at one end in a bearing bushing 18 mounted in a bearin opening 19 in the case wall, while the ot er end thereof is journaled in a bushing 20 fitted in a hearing box 21 formed in elevated position in the case bottom interiorlv thereof. The shaft 17 carries an oil distributing wheel 22 without the bushing 20, which wheel, in the present instance, is of .sli htly dished disc-form. A drive shaft 23, riven in the present instance by a motor 24 without the case, projects into the interior of the case 1 through a stufling box 25 in its side wall in axial register with the inner end of the shaft 17 and fixedly carries a male cone clutch member 26, which loosely receives the adjacent end of the shaft 17. A female clutch member 27 is mounted around the member 26 and is carried for yielding axial movements relative thereto by pins 28 projecting from the wheel 22, whereby said wheel and the clutch member 27 are caused to turn together. Springs 29 on the pins normally hold the member 27 in clutch engagement with its pinion 26. A release of the clutch is effected by a movement in one direction of a control lever 30 disposed without the case 1, the shaft 31 of the lever projecting through the case wall and having an arm 32 at its lower end in engagement with the inner side of the clutch member 27.

The case 1 is provided in its bottom with an oil pocket 33 below the worm 16 and with an oil pocket 34: below the oil distributing wheel 22 and adjacent to the stuffmg box 25, the pocket 33 bein preferably of less depth than the other. i communicating or drainage passage 35 is provided between the pockets through the bushing 20' at the bottom of its opening. The lower portion of the wheel 22 is intended to be submerged a greater or less extent in the oil of the pocket 34 so that a rapid rotation of such wheel will throw the oil upward against a vertically registerin inclined surface 1 of the crank case wa and the 011 will be deflected thereby up into the lower portion of the cylinder 31 to lubricate its we 1, the surplus oil then falling down into the pocket 33, which is in vertical register with the cylinder. This maintains the oil supply in the pocket 33 above the drainage passage 35 and in submergingrrelation to the worm to thoroughly lubricate the same during'a running of the machine and at the same time keeps the level of the oil in the pocket 34 below the bearing 25 to prevent leakage of oil therethrough. In practice it IS preferable to maintain a sufficient quantity of oil in the crank case So that when the machine is idle and the oil 111 the pocket 33 has lowered to a line with the dramage passage 35' the level of the oil nasaaea to prevent any oil which may pass around the bushing 18 or through the same, from escaping from said opening.

It is evident that in the operation of a a machine embodying my invention all of the arts requiring lubrication are suflicienty lubricated by the oiling means employed, the oil in the pocket 33 being maintained at a sufficient level to thorou hly lubricate the worm and worm-wheel w ile the oil in the pocket- 22 is maintained at a level below the worm shaft to prevent leakage of oil from the crank case around the shaft bearing. It is also evident that at each revolution of the crank 11 the rod 5 and pounder 7 carried thereby will be rotated a fraction of a turn by reason of the upper end of the pitman 12 act-in on the ratchet wheel 15 in the manner 0 a pawl.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction, arrangement, or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and changes, without departing from the spirit of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,-

1. In combination, a hollow case having'a plurality of aligned bearings, one being an open bearing through the case wall and also having an oil distributing pocket and an oil receiving pocket in its bottom spaced longitudinally of the bearings and having drainage communication one with the other, a shaft journaled in the bearings and extending at one end without the case through the open bearing, the normal level of oil in the distributing pocket which is adjacent to the open bearlng being below the bearing and the normal level of oil in the other pocket partially submergin theadjacent bearings, and means opera le by a rotation of the shaft to discharge oil from the distributing pocket to the receivin pocket.

2. In combination, a hOlfiJW case having an outside bearing and an inside bearing in axial alignmentand having a distributing oil pocket adjacent to the outside bearing and a second oil pocket adjacent to the inside bearing with said pockets in drainage communication, the normal level of oil in the first pocket being below the bearings and the normal level of oil in the second pocket being in partial submerging relation to the inside bearing, a shaft journaled in said bearings, and means 0' erated by a rotation of the shaft to trans er oil from the first 7 and having two oil pockets spaced axially.

of the bearings with one adjacent to the outside bearing and one adjacent to the inside bearing, the inside bearing having provision for drainage therethrough of oil from one pocket to the other, the normal level of oil in the pocket adjacent to the outside beartoward the cylinder and the case ing being below said bearing and the normal level of the oil in the other pocket being at a height to partially submerge the inside bearing, a shaft journaled in said bearin and means operated by a rotation of t e shaft to cause a distribution of oil from the pocket of lower oil level to the other. 7

4. In combination, a crank case, a cylin der above the case in communication therewith, a side wall of the case being inclined iaving in its bottom portion an outside bearing, a distributing oil ocket and a receivin oil pocket with the atter adjacent to the ing and below'the inclined sidewall of the case, an interior shaft bearing between the ockets axially aligned with the outside earmg, a plunger in the c linder, a plunger driving mechanism in tli drive shaft ,journaled in said bearings, a distributing'wheel carried by the shaft in the distributing pocket and adapted to throw oil from the distributing pocket up against the inclined side wall of the case and thence into the cylinder, the'surplus oil falling down into the receiving pocket, a restricted drainage between the pockets, the normal level of the oil in the distributing pocket being below the bearings and the normal level of the oil in the receiving pocket bein adjacentto the shaft in lubricating relat on to the interior bearing.

In; testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM EMIL BOCK.

e case having a 

